The below excerpt is from my book Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups. This revised and expanded edition shows church leaders how to make their small groups work.

Take a moment to imagine what small groups will look like in your church once you have a thoughtful, effective system in place–once you can plan ahead for groups instead of always feeling like you are already behind. Yes, getting the system going will take some work. You must sow before you can reap. But once you have the system up and running, it does the work for you.

In his phenomenal work Good to Great, Jim Collins explains the power of the flywheel principles. A flywheel is a massive metal disk that is mounted horizontally on an axle. The disk usually weighs about five thousand pounds. Getting a flywheel to start rotating on its axle is quite a challenge. As Collins writes:

“Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first…You keep pushing and, after two or three hours of persistent effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn…You keep pushing and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You keep pushing in a consistent direction. Three turns…four…five…six…the flywheel builds up speed…seven…eight…nine…ten…it builds momentum…eleven…twelve…Then at some point–breakthrough! The momentum of the thing kicks in your favor, hurling the flywheel forward…its own heavy weight working for you…Each turn of the flywheel builds upon the work done earlier, compounding your investment and effort.” 

Small groups are a lot like flywheels. Your first push–getting them off the ground your first semester while planning the second semester–is going to take all your energy. The second push will be a little easier. The third will be a little easier than the second. The point will come, as you get used to working with the flow of the Focus, Form, Fill, and Facilitate system, when momentum will kick in and your small groups will spin just the way you’ve set them to.

 – Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, with Jennifer Dykes Henson

The above excerpt is from p. 86-87 of Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups.

Drawing from the startling success of small groups at The Journey Church, Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas debunk the myths, set the record straight, and show how church leaders can implement a healthy small group ministry that gets the maximum number of people involved and solves many of the important problems facing churches of all sizes. These practical strategies will produce life-changing results.

P.S. – Click here to grab your copy from Amazon today!

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.